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Dixie Dregs
The Dixie Dregs are an American band formed in the 1970s. Their mostly instrumental music fuses jazz, southern rock, bluegrass and classical forms in an often unique style. History Formation and early years The Dixie Dregs evolved from an Augusta, Georgia band called Dixie Grit, formed by Steve Morse and Andy West in 1970. The band featured Morse's older brother Dave on drums, Frank Brittingham (guitar and vocals) and Johnny Carr (keyboards). Carr was later replaced by Mark Parrish. Shortly after Steve Morse's enrollment at University of Miami's School of Music in 1971, Dixie Grit was disbanded. Morse and West continued performing as a duet, calling themselves Dixie Dregs (the "Dregs" of "Dixie Grit").http://www.stevemorse.info/timeline/1970s.html See section entitled "1970" and "1972" In 1973, Steve Morse (guitar), Andy West (bass), Allen Sloan (violin) and Bart Yarnal (drums) met while students at the University of Miami's School of Music to play as Rock Ensemble II. West also attended Georgia State University for a year while studying cello and music theory & composition along with Parrish. Parrish remained at GSU during the academic school years only to return to Augusta, Georgia during summer breaks - re-establishing the guitar/bass/keyboards/drums quartet with Morse, West, Parrish, and Gilbert Frayer (drums) performing as opening acts for concerts and headlining local gigs as the Dixie Dregs. During subsequent academic school years, the remaining members of the Dregs — including Andy West — returned to the University of Miami and Mark Parrish returned to Atlanta, Georgia to complete his degree in music performance and composition at Georgia State University under the study of William Masselos, with additional studies of electronic music at Columbia University in New York City under Alice Shields - a protégé of Wendy Carlos. First recording At the time, the University of Miami hosted a lively musical community, including future greats Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Danny Gottlieb, T Lavitz and Bruce Hornsby. Rod Morgenstein was asked to fill in as drummer after a surfing accident disabled Yarnal. In 1974, during the school years at UofM, keyboardist Frank Josephs was added to their lineup. In 1975, the group's first effort, The Great Spectacular (named by ex-"Dixie Grit" second guitarist and singer, Frank Brittingham) was recorded at the University. Approximately 1,000 copies of the original LP were pressed. The album was reissued in 1997 in CD form. Signed to Capricorn Based on the strength of a three song demo and a tip from former Allman Brothers Band members Chuck Leavell and Twiggs Lyndon, Capricorn Records signed them in late 1976 to record Free Fall (1977). Steve Davidowski was the keyboardist on "Free Fall". When Steve left to work with fiddler Vassar Clements, former Dixie Grit/Dixie Dregs keyboardist Mark Parrish rejoined the group later that year. The moderate success and critical acclaim of Free Fall led to their 1978 effort, What If, supported by their first tour with dates in New York, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and California. Their fourth album, Night of the Living Dregs (featuring Morse, West, Sloan, Parrish, and Morgenstein), was released in April 1979, gaining the band their first Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance - won that year by Paul McCartney's band Wings. Night of the Living Dregs included studio recordings as well as compositions performed live and recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1978. Ken Scott - The Beatles' and producer/arranger George Martin's right-hand man and engineer - produced both Dixie Dregs albums What If and Night of the Living Dregs. Switch to Arista In October 1979, Capricorn Records declared bankruptcy, and the band was signed by Arista Records in January 1980, to create three albums. At that time, keyboardist Parrish left and was replaced by T Lavitz. Later that year, Dregs of the Earth (featuring Morse, West, Sloan, Lavitz, and Morgenstein) was released. Parrish went on to play piano and keyboards for vocalists Andy Williams, Roberta Flack, Natalie Cole, Luther Vandross, Peabo Bryson, Celine Dion, Regina Belle, Deborah Gibson, Pat Boone and daughter Debby Boone, Glen Campbell and for guitarist Larry Coryell. He won an Angel Award as co-producer of a Christian album, where he arranged and played all the instrumental segments. He has also been musical director, conductor, and keyboard instrumentalist with the touring stage shows of Cats, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, Little Shop of Horrors, Nunsense, Brigadoon, The Phantom of the Opera, Anything Goes, and other Broadway stage shows. Name change with the Dixie Dregs at the Roxy Theatre, August 28, 1999]] For Unsung Heroes, released in 1981, the band changed their name to The Dregs in an effort to gain more commercial appeal. Violinist Sloan was replaced by Mark O'Connor, winner of Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championship for their 1982 release, Industry Standard. This album introduced vocals for the first time as a further attempt to gain more airtime. Guest vocalists included the Doobie Brothers's Patrick Simmons and Alex Ligertwood (Santana). Industry Standard provided the Dregs with another Grammy nomination for Best Rock/Jazz Instrumental Performance. The recent name change, vocal additions and a grueling touring schedule did nothing to improve sales and the members of The Dregs parted for individual projects. Reunion In the late 1980s, the group reunited for a tour featuring former members Morse, Morgenstein (who was also playing with Winger), Lavitz and Sloan. Their return was complemented by a "Best Of" release entitled Divided We Stand (1989). Bassist Dave LaRue completed the line-up for a seven date tour culminating in the 1992 live album Bring 'em Back Alive. Violinist Jerry Goodman, of The Mahavishnu Orchestra fame, filled in for Sloan, who was frequently absent as a result of his busy medical career. They signed a deal with former label Capricorn Records for their first studio album in years entitled Full Circle in 1994. Today The Dregs to this day remain a loose collection of its former members, reuniting briefly for short tours and rare studio work. 1997's releases were The Great Spectacular in April and King Biscuit Flour Hour Presents (originally recorded in 1979 for the King Biscuit radio show) in September. California Screamin' (2000) is a curious mix of live recordings from the performances at the Roxy Theatre in August 1999. This release features older compositions and covers of the Allman Brothers Band's "Jessica", and Frank Zappa's "Peaches en Regalia" (with Dweezil Zappa sharing guitar lead). 20th Century Masters: The Best Of The Dixie Dregs and the DVD Sects, Dregs and Rock 'n' Roll were released in 2002. Current line-up *Steve Morse - guitar (1970 - Present) *Rod Morgenstein - drums (1973 - Present) *Dave LaRue - bass guitar (1988 - Present) *Jerry Goodman - violin (1992 - Present) Former members *Andy West - bass guitar (1970 - 1988, 2000) *Gilbert Frayer - drums (1972) *Allen Sloan, M.D. - violin (1973 - 1981, 1992) *Frank Josephs - keyboards (1974 - 1975) *Steve Davidowski - keyboards (1975 - 1977) *Mark Parrish - keyboards (1977 - 1978) *T Lavitz - keyboards (1978 - 2010) *Mark O'Connor - violin (1981 - 1982) *Jordan Rudess - keyboards (1994, filled in for T Lavitz) Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:400 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:120 top:0 right:30 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1970 till:01/01/2012 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:violin value:teal legend:Violin id:lines value:black legend:Studio albums Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1970 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1970 LineData = at:01/01/1976 color:black layer:back at:05/27/1977 color:black layer:back at:03/01/1978 color:black layer:back at:03/01/1979 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1980 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1981 color:black layer:back at:02/01/1982 color:black layer:back at:05/01/1988 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1992 color:black layer:back at:06/07/1994 color:black layer:back at:09/16/1997 color:black layer:back at:02/01/2000 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Steve;Morse text:"Steve Morse" bar:Andy;West text:"Andy West" bar:Dave;LaRue text:"Dave LaRue" bar:Gilbert;Frayer text:"Gilbert Frayer" bar:Rod;Morgenstein text:"Rod Morgenstein" bar:Allen;Sloan text:"Allen Sloan" bar:Mark;O'Connor text:"Mark O'Connor" bar:Jerry;Goodman text:"Jerry Goodman" bar:Frank;Josephs text:"Frank Josephs" bar:Steve;Davidowski text:"Steve Davidowski" bar:Mark;Parrish text:"Mark Parrish" bar:T;Lavitz text:"T Lavitz" bar:Jordan;Rudess text:"Jordan Rudess" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Steve;Morse from:01/01/1970 till:end color:guitar bar:Andy;West from:01/01/1970 till:12/01/1988 color:bass bar:Dave;LaRue from:12/02/1988 till:end color:bass bar:Gilbert;Frayer from:01/01/1972 till:12/31/1972 color:drums bar:Rod;Morgenstein from:01/01/1973 till:end color:drums bar:Allen;Sloan from:01/01/1973 till:05/31/1981 color:violin bar:Allen;Sloan from:01/01/1988 till:04/01/1992 color:violin bar:Mark;O'Connor from:06/01/1981 till:12/01/1988 color:violin bar:Jerry;Goodman from:12/02/1988 till:end color:violin bar:Frank;Josephs from:01/01/1974 till:06/01/1976 color:keyboards bar:Steve;Davidowski from:06/02/1976 till:10/01/1977 color:keyboards bar:Mark;Parrish from:10/02/1977 till:08/01/1979 color:keyboards bar:T;Lavitz from:08/02/1979 till:10/07/2010 color:keyboards bar:Jordan;Rudess from:08/01/1994 till:01/01/1995 color:keyboards Discography *''The Great Spectacular'' (1976 - released on CD April 1997) *''Free Fall'' (May 27, 1977) (Note: the spine lists the title as "Freefall") *''What If'' (March 1978) *''Night of the Living Dregs'' (1979) *''Dregs of the Earth'' (1980) *''Unsung Heroes'' (1981) *''Industry Standard'' (1982) *''Off the Record'' (1988) (Demo for Ensoniq synthesizers) *''The Best of the Dregs: Divided We Stand'' (compilation, 1989) *''Bring 'Em Back Alive'' (1992) *''Full Circle'' (June 7, 1994) *''King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents'' (September 16, 1997) *''California Screamin' '' (February 1, 2000) *''20th Century Masters: The Best Of The Dixie Dregs'' (March 26, 2002) *''Sects, Dregs and Rock 'n' Roll'' (DVD, December 2002) *''From The Front Row... Live!'' (Dolby 5.1 DVD-Audio, 2003) Notes External links *Listen to Dixie Dregs Live at Sigma Sound Studios on June 17, 1979 *http://www.michaelmastro.com/photo_dregs.html The Dixie Dregs first promo photograph, by Michael Mastro, who also shot the photographs on the back of "What If". Category:Jazz Combos and Jazz Bands - Alphabetical D